Gots Me an Idea...

So, I know there's a couple of folks out there who stop by occasionally. I would like your opinion.

What would you all think if I took this (Saiga .308):

(pic borrowed from this Gunbroker auction)

And turned it in to this (AKS-74U), in .308 of course:

Think it'd be too much? Or would it be sublimely evil? Thoughts? Prayers?

Edit to Add: Am bumping this up for a couple of days to see what kind of reaction I'm going to get.

It's Enough To Piss a Feller Off

Wondering the AlGorian intertubz this afternoon, checking the links on the right side of the page and came across a couple of really egregious stories.

First up we have this little gem via Sispey Street and WoG. Seems that a be-ridden grandmother was tased by an overly aggressive PD down in Oklahoma. That she did not succumb to the torture these imbeciles in blue subjected her to is both a testament to her spirit and a blessing. I'm sure that had she expired from the wounds and treatment inflicted upon her by her captors, it would have been deemed as 'within department protocol'.

Second, we have this from Joe Huffman, video here. Seems an amputee was singled out for 'extra security' at an unnamed airport in Kaliforn-I-A. While not being particularly troublesome before, the numbnuts in TSA got all kinds of cry-baby-pissy-pants when her young son tried to go to Mommy. This, evidently, led to an almost pedophilic moment where the goons from TSA copped a look at the young lads privates to ensure there weren't any 'explosives' hidden in his diaper. (For a bit of irony, it would have been the ultimate irony had the young'un dropped a particularly nasty radioactive load in his Pampers, wouldn't it? Better yet, the supreme irony would've been if he'd done it while being leered at by said baby diddler.)

All this led to a 'rule change' just for her. Not only was she subjected to the humiliation this extra screening brought on, but they potentially could have cost her even more of the limb by exposing her to bacteria and germs that don't go well with amputations.

My bet, is in neither one of these cases will anyone be held to account for their actions. And that, folks, is what has become of the once Great United States. A petty tyrant on every corner.

I Met A Real Celebrity Today!

This weekend, there's a big auction and gun show in Deadwood, SD.

So, I took the day off from work to go wonder around the tables and see what they had to offer. I've already seen what they've got listed for the auction, so this was an opportunity to see what else was for sale.

Holy Smokes! There's enough vintage and antique Winchesters there to outfit the 7th Cavalry! If I had to venture a guess on how much money is sitting in that room, I'd run out of zeros.

So, while I was wondering the aisles, I passed a guy in a green Hawaiian flowerdy shirt. I thought to myself, 'Self, that guy looked awful familiar, that couldn't have been Michael Bane, could it? Nah...but it looked an awful lot like him didn't it?'

My wonderings took me to a table of vintage Winchesters and Colt Lightnings, and standing there talking up a kid at the table is the guy in the green Hawaiian flowerdy shirt. So, my curiosity getting the best of me, I politely introduced myself by asking the gentleman why he looked awful familiar. Lo and behold, it WAS Michael Bane. Yes, that would be THE Michael Bane. Star of Downrange TV and The Best Defense, and probably the easiest guy to talk to I've ever met at a gun show.

And to prove it, I'm going to break my longstanding rule on putting my face on the interwebz just this once.

My apologies for the grainy picture, the kid taking it wasn't quite sure how run the camera on a Droid. Seems they were in the area doing some filming for an upcoming episode and decided to stop by and see what was what at the show.

But I gots proof that I got to meet THE Michael Bane!

Range Clean Up

Out here in flyover country, or tourist trap, or playground (call it what you will), we have several open, free, and very public gun ranges. There are several around the Hills, the most famous and used one is Beretta Road.

The down side to having these free public ranges is that people think they are their personal target dumping grounds.

Yesterday (that would be June 12th for those keeping track at home) we had a Shoot-N-Clean Day out at Beretta Road. 7 folks showed up, ranging in age from 13 to around late 30's-early 40's. We shot a bunch of different stuff, from AKs in almost every caliber imaginable (5.45x39 all the way up to 12 ga.) to a trap gun to an AR and a 1911. Oh, and one guy brought out his registered FA Uzi in .22.

After the shooting part of the day was over, about 2 hrs after we started, the serious side of the day began, the cleaning part. Aside from the usual stuff folks will use as targets like empty milk and water containers and pop cans, we ran across some, shall we say, interesting items used as targets. We found the equivalent of 7 old TVs that had been shot up (some still mostly intact, others literally in pieces), one computer, 2 monitors, 2 microwaves, a bed, a sofa, part of a boat, half a rack of storage shelves, one either dishwasher or stove (it was partially submerged face down in a creek so we couldn't really tell), a section of exhaust pipe, a light bar from an emergency vehicle complete with inventory number, and enough particle board to make 4 or 5 cabinets.

It's also not unusual to find used condoms and broken beer and licqour bottles laying around the area either.

This is the result of our work, around 5 hrs worth:

The grayish white stuff on the tail of the trailer in the above pic is the remains of a bed we picked up. We also picked up the tattered and ruined remains of a sofa.

Another view:

What you see here is the tip of the iceberg. We only grabbed the big stuff. Not only did we fill the bed of this trailer, the bed of the truck pulling it was full as was the bed of another truck. I brought back 2 bags, as most of what I picked up found its way onto the trailer.

Oh I forgot. We even found a door. In one range we found what appeared to be the remains of somebody's divorce. Broken plates, picture frames and embroidery.

The one things that sticks out in my mind as the worst thing we found was in a creek bed behind one range: there was a plastic bag with the remains of a dog in it. That struck me as wrong on soooo many levels. I certainly hope the animal that was inside was already gone when that sack went into the creek. If it wasn't, I hope whoever did such a cruel and ugly thing roasts in the lowest levels of Hell.

But that, folks, is what we have to deal out here. Some folks are good about picking up after themselves and others not so much. Mostly not so much as you have seen.

More Idiots On PeeRade

Well, the Brady Bunch is at it again. With the release of of the ATF Firearms Trace Data for 2009, we have the proverbial knickers in a knot response from the Brady Campaign.

I haven't had time to sit down and run any data, but from the states I looked up (NY, CA, MA, SD, and WY) the bulk of the 'crime guns' numbers came from inside the state itself. NY had over 1800 trace requests, CA had over 11,000, and MA had over (of course with the most draconian laws in the country, is it any wonder?). SD and WY each were under 200 (167 and 192 respectively) total trace requests. Makes you wonder, don't it?

Overheard In The Gun Store Today

One thing I have to give my new adopted home of Rapid City is they are definitely a tourist trap. We usually see all manner of tourists around here over the course of the summer months, from the odd occasional wandering Canadian to the odd hippie or two, to the bikers that come to town during the Sturgis Rally.

Every once in a while, one will wander through the doors of my second home here, First Stop Gun and Coin. Today was no exception...except for the elderly couple and their grandson.

Grandma: Why don't they have any different books here?

Grandson: Blink....Blink

Grandma: I mean, all they have is books on guns. Don't they have anything else?

Grandson: Blink.....Blink

Grandma: Oh look, here's one on fishing. I wonder why they don't have any other books here other than stuff on Winchester and guns.

Me (to myself): The fact you're standing in a gun store is completely lost on you, isn't it?

I'm From the Government and I'm Here To

Slam! That would be the people of Magnolia Springs, AL slamming the door in the face of the government, both state and federal.

What would make a seemingly sleepy little town on the Magnolia River do such a thing you ask? How about the fact that after repeated attempts to protect their homes and livelihoods from the worst man-made disaster in our nations history, and getting rebuffed by all levels of government, they had to take matters into their own hands.

Bravo to the folks of Magnolia Springs!

Telling, Ain't It?

Why, you'd think the anti's over at the Huffington Post had stumbled upon something...incriminating.


Turns out, nosso much. Try as they might, all their arguments are reduced to jokes about the inadequecies of gun owners and putting things in places that are well, better left to others to describe.

Another Grizzly Tale

Out of Jackson today, we get a report that a man, one Stephen Westmoreland, was found guilty of shooting and killing a grizzly bear.

Of all the stuff I've heard about from first hand accounts to tales related around a campfire, this (and they let you know right up front) is the first successful prosecution of somebody killing a bear in self defense.

From what I've read in the linked article, what got him convicted was the fact that the bear was 40 yds away. Now, I'm no genius here, but 40 yds is nothing when you stop to think that your average wide receiver in the NFL can do 40 yds in around 4 seconds. The fastest human runs at around 20 mph and the average pissed off bear can outrun them hands down. There's a reason why they tell you never try to run from a bear. If you do, they'll only chase you down and kill you, and you don't want to die tired.

So to set this straight, according to those in the know, even though they fall all over themselves telling you it ain't so, you've got about 2 seconds to figure out if the bear you've come across on your nature hike is going to come after you for dinner or is just trying to make an impression. Of that 2 seconds, there's that little thing drag racers like to call reaction time. The bear's already made up its mind what it's going to do, so you've got about .5 seconds to figure out what YOU'RE gonna do. And you had better hope it's the right decision, or you may well wind up in jail over it.

The prosecution wanted everyone to know that "This should not be interpreted as a message that you cannot defend yourself." Yeah right. Given the make-up of Teton County over the last 10 yrs, I think that's exactly the message they wanted to convey. Signed, sealed, and delivered.

And Now A Word From The Opposition

Having gone from trying to beat Starbucks into submission, and failing, Paul Helmke of the Brady Bunch For The Prevention of Gun Ownership is getting his bleat on about the NRA.

What does he have to say? Well, you can read for yourself, here.

Keeping up with the whole 'NRA's all about letting terrorists have guns' thing, he tries to guilt the membership into supporting his point of view.

Supposedly taking a piece from the NRA's pledge in 1954, we get this little gem:

'I certify that I am a citizen of the United States; that I am not a member of any organization that has any part of its program the attempt to overthrow the government of the United States by force or violence; that I have never been convicted of a crime of violence and that if admitted to membership I will fulfill the obligations of good sportsmanship and good citizenship.'

Now, when I got my life membership last year (I upgraded to Endowment this year on the legacy plan) I got a copy of the Bylaws of the National Rifle Association.

Reading said bylaws, Article 3, section 1, paragraph b states:

'No individual who is a member of, and no organization composed in whole or in part of individuals who are members of, any organization or group having as its purpose or one of its purposes the overthrow by force and violence of the Government of the United States or any of its political subdivisions shall be eligible for membership.'

I don't see where the NRA has ever been about giving guns to terrorists. Either by selling them or giving them away. Nobody wants terrorists, or criminals for that matter, to have access to firearms. That said, what the NRA, and a lot of others don't much care for is putting somebody's name on a secret list and then denying them civil rights with no way or hope of ever getting off the super secret squirrel list. There's something about 'lists' that conjures up all kinds of bad history and memories; from the NKVD to the Gestapo to the Stasi to the KGB and the FSB, nobody wants their name on a list for no other reason than somebody, somewhere didn't like the way they looked or acted. Those kinds of things can get ugly in real hurry.

His other complaint, about the so-called 'gunshow loophole' or as he puts it 'loopholes that allow criminals to buy guns' is a tired old argument he's been at for some time.

His latest, though, is trying to equate NRA membership with militia membership. Now, knowing what the bylaws from 2009 and the pledge from 1954 say, I think he's trying to urinate up the long hemp object hanging from the ceiling. Reason I say that is, everyone I know of who hates the government also can't stand the NRA. Most, if not all, of them think the NRA is too squishy on gun rights for their tastes.

You know, the Prez may have been right. You've got to hitch your wagon to something bigger than yourself. My wagon just happens to be the proverbial 800 lb gorilla in gun rights.

Much Ado About Parks Lately

Seems that with the passage of concealed carry in national parks where legal, there have been some, shall we say, issues.

First up, we have one Jerry Ruth. Mr. Ruth was on his own in Yellowstone NP and was attacked by a grizzly last month. Nearly losing his jaw in the fight, he shot and killed the bear with a .41 magnum revolver of undetermined manufacture. (My guess is it was a Ruger Blackhawk, but it may well have been a S&W Md 57, too.)

And now we have an incident in Denali NP in Alaska. Via the Fairbanks News Miner, we learn of a pair of hikers who had a run-in with a grizzly in a foul mood. What we know from the linked article is they used a .45 caliber pistol to defend themselves.

And in true hysterical fashion, we have an editorial from Anchorage high on emotion and rather short on logic or facts. Same with the commentors there. High on referenceto anatomical shortcomings, short on anything else.

Now, from what I have gleaned from discussions around the intertubz and with folks familiar with these types of situations is that neither cartridge is particularly suitable for large, pissed off bruin. While a .41 mag beats a .45 ACP, both beat a sharp stick hands down in fending off 1000 lbs of mad grizzly.

So now I have to ask, how would these situations ended had the ban on concealed carry not passed?